


And slowly, we'll get there

by lorinhazuzu



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Fluff, M/M, as usual, zarry - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-28
Updated: 2014-11-28
Packaged: 2018-02-27 08:42:07
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,271
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2686454
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lorinhazuzu/pseuds/lorinhazuzu
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Zayn doesn't know it, but he's in love with Harry. No, seriously.</p><p>It's not a big deal or anything.</p>
            </blockquote>





	And slowly, we'll get there

**Author's Note:**

> Ummm this is my first Zarry fic. I like it. Hm.

Zayn is not a hands-on sort of person. Or very prone to cuddling.

Still, he wouldn't say he's not an affectionate person. It's just that he tends to save that affection for his family, his mum and his sisters. He'll never turn away one of their hugs, or refuse them when they need him.

And then he's given a second family. These four amazing boys who are just as stuck with him as he's stuck with them.

He loves them almost immediately, though it takes him nearly a year to say it out-loud, even though the others have been throwing the words at each other ever since their first Christmas together.

It takes him a while to get used to them. To having people around him and in his space all of the time.

Zayn thinks he gets a bit better, or at least that 'mysterious' and 'aloof' phase seems to die down after a few months. But, no, that can't be it. Those boys have rubbed off on him he's sure.

He doesn't think it's a bad thing.

 

Rehearsals are hard to tackle at first, but something they all learnt long ago, is that it's impossible to keep them focused on one task for longer than twenty minutes, specially if they're all together.

Admittedly, rehearsals would go a lot more quickly if they didn't take so many breaks. But. If they didn't take so many breaks, they wouldn't have as much fun.

That was another lesson they learnt together. Fun was the key to keeping their sanity in the middle of so much madness.

It probably forced them to be together for an extra couple hours everyday, when they could be off, enjoying their free time, but it wasn't something they really complained about.

"We'd probably just spend the time together anyway" Niall had said once, and none of them had disagreed.

It's a bit different for Zayn, they all know it, it's not that he's a terribly private person, it's just that he enjoys his time spent by himself. His side-hobby does demand that he spend sometime alone anyway.

He's grateful because the boys understand it, try to give him that time (though they never succeed for very long) and even though they're all up in his space all the time, they do know when to leave him alone.

It's one of those times now. He's shut up in his hotel room, lying in bed with his sketchbook on his lap, halfway through a funny, short comic which he's struggling to make funny, when the door clicks open.

(There's always some mischief going on with their hotel key cards, his band-mates are a bunch of sneaky little thieves)

With an annoyed sigh, he looks up at the intruder.

Harry stands there, half in and half out of the room, face unsure.

"What's up?" Zayn asks, patting the space next to him.

Brightening, Harry shuffles into the room. He's wearing leggings and one of his famous billowing shirts, and if it wasn't Harry, Zayn would call him a girl. A great big one.

"Niall won't cuddle with me" he lays down next to him, and takes his time with getting comfortable until he's resting his cheek on Zayn's shoulder.

It's the one he's just got tattooed and it's still sore, but instead of saying anything he moves down on the bed until he's laying down properly.

"Oh"

"'M I interrupting?"

"A little bit" Zayn's not one to lie, "but I don't mind"

"I can go" he makes no move to leave the bed however, and Zayns smiles, amused.

"You're fine"

"mm kay"

He's sleepy, Zayn can tell. Harry always seems to be on the wrong time frame. Tired during the day and awake during the night. It used to drive Zayn crazy, having Harry babbling and muttering about nothing that made sense at all when he was trying to sleep.

He'd make him go bother someone else after a while, and Harry would go with a sort of acceptant unhappiness about him that always made Zayn feel so guilty he couldn't sleep anyway.

Nowadays they have a system. Whomever Harry goes to first will just have to deal with him. But then again nowadays Zayn doesn't mind it as much.

"Why d'ya go to Niall anyway? You know he doesn't sleep during the day"

"I don't want to sleep!" Harry argued, voice dragging on slower, "I just want a cuddle"

Zayn thought about that for a second, "everything okay?"

Harry groaned, the sound muffled against his shoulder, "yes, god, everything is fine! Why does everyone keep asking that?"

Tensing up, Zayn moves out from under Harry. He's not really one to take shit from anyone, not even Harry.

"If you're gonna be a brat about it..." he starts, but before he's even finished, Harry is interrupting, reaching out for him and hiding his face on Zayn's shoulder again. It hurts a bit and Zayn flinches away, which has Harry's grip on him tightening.

"I won't I won't, sorry"

After a moment, Zayn settles back and Harry's grip on him loosens so that his hand is once again resting on the hollow of his throat.

"Spit it out then" he tells him after a few more minutes of silence.

"'s nothing really. Just don't feel like people today"

Well, Zayn can understand that.

"Wow, Harry Styles not feeling like people?" he teases, arm going around Harry to pull him closer.

Harry gives him a reproachful look, "you know it happens"

"Yeah, I know babe"

Everyone knew that Harry could have his grumpy days just as much as anyone else. They never lasted long, because thankfully, they all knew how to cheer each other up, even if it was just to tell the other to go call their mum.

"But nothing happened, yeah?" he has to double check, of course he has, it's Harry.

Harry shakes his head, "no, just wanted you"

"Niall, you mean" Zayn nudges him and Harry shakes his head again, "I didn't want to bother you"

"You never bother me Harry, you know that"

"But you were having your me-time" Harry insisted.

"I don't care about that. If you need me, you come to me okay?"

Harry sighs contentdly, "okay"

He's asleep less than ten minutes later, so Zayn switches on the tv, volume turned down, and resigns himself to not finishing his drawing today. 

Harry's sleeping on his shoulder, breath warming the skin there and keeping Zayn aware of how sore the area is. He counts Harry's breaths, and soon is asleep as well.

 

A few days later they find themselves having breakfast together.

It's early summer, so the hotel they're staying in is crawling with people, and the amount of noise around them is honestly surprising for such an early hour.

Granted, much of that noise is being made by the occupants of his table.

"Do you think we can get waffles with cream?" Liam asks, looking over the menu in front of them.

"That's not on the menu" Zayn informs him, leaning away from Niall who's next to him and in the middle of a slap-fight with Louis. He exchanges an eye-roll with Lou, who's also trying to stay out of the way of their flailing limbs.

"We could ask?" he looks around hopefully.

Zayn sighs.

"What do you want waffles for? You already ordered your breakfast" Harry cuts in, looking up from his phone.

Liam shrugs, "just want them"

"When did you become such a diva?" Louis asks, fixing his mussed up hair and sending an amused looking Niall, a dirty glare. He puts on a whingey voice "I want waffles! I don't care if it's on the menu or not, I waaaant them!"

Liam colours slightly, as he usually does when something really gets to him. (That something being Louis)

"Aww Tommo, stop it you're embarrassing him!"

"Piss off" Liam mutters.

Louis grins, reaching across the table to pinch Liam's cheeks. Liam shakes him off with a slap, complaining "must you do that Louis?"

Louis makes a funny face at him, and Zayn goes back to his tea, ignoring his bickering friends. It tastes hot and bitter on his tongue, waking him up a little more.

Their food arrive just as he's thinking of putting some more sugar in, and it breaks up the boy's conversation, thankfully. It's too early for this much chaos.

He tucks into it, enjoying his scrambled eggs, and barely reacts in time to slap Niall's hand away.

"Hands off my toast Niall" Zayn tells him calmly, taking a bite out of it.

Niall glares at him, rubbing his hand "it's just a slice of toast!"

"If you want it so much, order you own"

Harry's feet knock into his under the table and Zayn sends him a smile before pulling his plate away from Niall, just to be safe. With the exception of Liam, his band-mates are all food thieves.

"We have to leave in 20 lads" Paul pipes in from where he's been sitting, phone in his ear. Zayn suspects he's talking to his wife. He's sitting directly next to Zayn, so he turns around thinking of asking him whether they'll have some free time after this interview, when he sees Harry's hand reaching out towards his plate.

He's too slow this time to stop him from stealing his hash-brown and Harry smiles at him as he bites into it, smug.

"Harry!"

He grins, the sweet-faced devil, "yes?" His voice is pure innocence, it's too bad Zayn knows him so well.

"I saw that"

Harry smiles, goading "and?"

Sighing Zayn slumps into his seat, blindly kicking out at Harry's chin. The hash-brown is his favourite part and Harry knows it, the git.

Next to him there's a mutter of "so unfair" from Niall, and then they're being rushed off towards their awaiting car.

 

"That wasn't 20 minutes" Harry whines to Paul as they get in the van.

"Sorry" he shrugs, unapologetic, "better early than late"

Harry frowns at him, "I don't think that's how it goes..."

Impatient, Zayn grabs his shoulder, directing him inside the vehicle.

"Cheer up mate, we can get you some more tea later" Zayn tells him as they settle themselves in.

"I could have my tea now if you guys had just waited another two minutes"

"Get over it Harry" Louis looks back at them over the top of his seat, "I was brutally separated from my tea, and you don't see me moaning about it"

Harry frowns, throwing a petulant look at the back of Louis' head that makes Niall, who's on Harry's left snicker loudly.

"No making faces" Louis says, not even turning around.

Not liking the look on his face, Zayn throws an arm around him, consolling, "leave him alone Lou"

Louis swivels around on his seat, an indignat look on his face, "tell him to stop whining then!"

Zayn frowns at him until with a loud huff, Louis settles back in his seat.

"Sorry" Harry mumbles, head resting on Zayn's shoulder. The left one this time.

"It's fine" Zayn assures him, while Louis tsks loudly in front of them.

Sitting up, Harry leans forward, forehead resting against the back of Louis' seat.

"Lou" Harry calls out, and all three of them turn to watch the scene.

There's an amused smile on Niall's face that Zayn finds mirrored on his own.

When Louis doesn't answer, Harry says his name again, this time with a poke on the shoulder.

"Lou. Lou. Looou. Lou"

With a nudge from Liam (an elbow to the ribs more like) Louis answers, "what?"

"I'm sorry I'm being annoying" which is really the worst way to apologise for it.

Louis takes a quick side-glance at him and Zayn knows that's it. He's not the only one who can't say no to Harry's sad face.

"Whatever Harold"

Harry smiles, knowing he's forgiven and pulls away, fitting back into the space next to Zayn.

 

They wrap up the meet-and-greet that night to the usual groans and complaints from the fans. Zayns knows how special this is for them, understands their reluctance, unwillingness to let them go. For him, there's always a mixture of both guilty and relieved feelings when he leaves, he's grateful to be done for the day, but sometimes he finds letting them go just as hard.

They don't have a show for the next couple of days, which they'll mostly spend travelling to their next venue, so they're taken back to the hotel, all of them looking forward to a night spent in a proper bed.

He stumbles on the way out, surprised at the sudden weight on his back, though perhaps he should've been expecting it. He recovers his balance quickly enough and cranes his neck to see who his assailant is.

It isn't a fan, as some might expects, but close enough.

'Niall' Zayn groans.

'Carry me like I'm your bride!' he shouts in midst laughter. Zayn rolls his eyes. Niall's always hyper after performing.

'I don't think thats quite right' Liam butts in from beside him.

Zayns just grunts in response, Niall's grip is rather tight around his neck.

'It's lucky Niall's such a skinny lad' Louis muses, directly behind him.

'And that Zayn's stronger than he looks' Liam says, opening the door for Zayn who turns around so Niall can hop off and onto the seat.

'Thanks Zayn!" he slides across to the far end. Zayn follows him in.

There's the sound of a scuffle behind him, and he turns around in time to see Harry getting in next to him, and Louis, frowning as he stands outside.

'C'mon Lou' Zayn hurries him, eager to get back to the hotel. Things can get quite hectic if they linger around the arena for too long after the shows, and Zayn would like to avoid that.

'Oh honestly' Louis huffs, before climbing in.

Puzzled, Zayns sends Harry a questioning glance, but the boy only shrugs before turning his attention to his phone. Zayn who doesn't feel the need to be on his phone all the time, closes his eyes instead. It's been a tiring day, and he's barely had a minute to himself. He's glad they'll be on the bus for the next couple of days, so he'll have plenty of time of time to be an 'anti-social recluse' as Louis calls him.

His eyes open a few minutes later to Harry nudging his shoulder.

'We're here' he says softly, 'sorry' he adds.

Zayn smiles, 'it's fine babe, I wasn't asleep'

They usually book a whole area of whatever hotel they're staying in, because obviously they have more people travelling with them now-a-days, and Zayn's shoulders always relax when he reaches it, never realising until then how tense he'd become throughout the day.

He touches the key-card to his door, and it opens with a beep.

The room is spacious, decorated mostly in creams and browns. The silence inside it makes his ears ring.

He heads into the bathroom, knowing he can never fall asleep without washing off the adrenaline that sticks to his skin. When he comes back out, sometime later, he blinks at the sight of Harry, spread out fast asleep on his bed. He doesn't know how he always manages to sneak into everybody's rooms.

Zayn approaches, stopping once his knees touch the edge of the now unmade bed, surprised at how unsurprised he is. Harry's been coming into his room often. It's the fourth night in a row, now that he thinks about it,

Not wanting to wake him, Zayn arranges Harry's limbs as best as he can so he can get in, and falls asleep not much later.

His eyes open to a dark room, and he knows without checking it's still the middle of the night.

'Zayn' a familiar voices says in his ear. He hums in response.

'What's your favourite colour today?'

'Red' he mumbles through a heavy tongue.

'Still?'

'Um-mm'

'Okay' and then, 'mine's green'

'That's good' he smacks his lips together and turns around, throwing an arm around his waist.

'Sleep babe'

'Okay'

He won't. The thought barely registers before he's asleep again.

It feels like days later, when the sound of someone knocking on his door wakes him up again. When he fails to answer soon enough, the door opens, and Paul steps through.

'Zayn come on lad, up you get. Harry, you too'

Next to him, Harry groans, ''m tired'

'You can sleep on the bus, come on we have to be out of here in 30 minutes'

'Will we have time for breakfast?' he gets up slowly, throwing on a shirt and trying to blink the sleep-haze out of his eyes.

'If you hurry up maybe. Should've set your alarms' he says before walking out.

Zayn looks back at Harry who's sitting up in bed with a smile on his face.

'You okay babe?'

Harry nods, grinning, 'morning Zayn'

Zayn laughs, ' morning Harry. How about I go down to get us something to eat while you get your things ready?'

'Really? What about your things?'

Zayns shrugs, 'they never really got out of my backpack'

'Okay' he agrees, 'I'll meet you down there?'

Zayn nods before leaving him to it.

He's not the only one from their crew who's trying to quickly grab something before having to be on the road again, and he waves to a lot of familiar faces, before being on his way again.

Downstairs, in the underground car-park, he sees Paul and James, obviously impatient.

'C'mon lad, we need to get going' James ushers him.

'Where are the others?'

'Inside already' he nods. Goes in.

Its quiet inside, he suspects the others have gone back to sleep already. In their living room area he finds Harry spread out on the couch, eyes fixed on the telly, subtitles on because he's nice enough to mute the volume.

'Hey'

Harry blinks up at him; smiles.

'Heeey' he sits up, 'did you know that Italy is dying out?'

'What?' he sits down next to him, passing him a cheese and ham croissant, and keeps the plain one to himself.

'Yeah' he nods, 'people don't have enough babies there'

Zayn frowns at him, before redirecting his gaze at the telly. Harry's watching Sponge Bob.

'Mm' he hums, 'can we turn the volume up a bit?' he prefers watching cartoons without having to work for it, even if he has to put up with the squeaky voices.

'Niall'll be mad' Harry warns him, finger already pressing down on the volume button.

'Why'd he be mad? Not like it's gonna wake him up?' an air-plane could crash next to him and it wouldn't wake him up.

'Okay' Harry agrees, not needing any more convincing.

Zayn smiles into his pastry.

Later, when they've finished with breakfast, Zayn notices Harry nodding off.

'You tired?' he nudges him.

'Bit'

Something in his question, must have sounded like an invitation, because he leans sideways until he's back to laying on the couch, Zayn with him this time. He holds on to the fabric of Zayn's shirt, nose on the back of his neck.

He doesn't know what time it is when he wakes up, but he figures out what woke him up very quickly. The voices of his band-mates floating around him. They're trying to be quiet, but Zayn know they can never succeed for long, especially when they're together.

He moves his shoulders around, only then noticing that Harry isn't on the couch with him anymore and he groans, throwing an arm over his face. The room goes quiet. He uncovers his face and flinches back. Niall's face is inches away from him, and he's staring down at Zayn with a grin on his face.

'Argh, Niall, don't do that!'

He laughs, the little shit, and pats him on the cheek, 'welcome to the world of the living. We weren't sure if you'd died or not'

'Good thing you didn't. Who'd be the dark, mysterious and broody one then?' Louis says, eyes glued on the tv. He's playing video-games and seems to be angrily pushing random buttons on the controller. He's not very good at anything that's not Fifa, and he doesn't like losing. It's quite entertaining to watch.

'Harry' Liam answers, face serious and arms moving around with the controller. Louis laughs.

'I could be good at being mysterious' Harry says from where he's just entered their living room area, before plopping himself down on the couch.

Niall snickers.

'Oi Harry, get off my legs, you're heavy' Zayn complains.

Harry frowns unhappily at him, 'but they're being mean to me'

'So? Seriously Harry, get off'

'Fine' he huffs, sitting down on the floor next to Niall.

Zayn gets up, heads towards the loo. it's probably time to call his mum, she gets worried if he goes long without calling, even though she could very easily get an update on him. The wonders of the internet.

'C'mon Zayn, get out, I need a piss!" Louis' voice reaches him, loud and obnoxious as Louis usually is, fist knocking tirelessly on the door.

'Alright, aright!' he gets out and goes to look for his phone. Can't keep his mum waiting.

A few hours later they make a pit-stop. Most of them get up, eager for a break from the bus and some fresh air.

Rising up from where he's been laying on his bunk playing with his phone, Zayn follows them out, passing a knocked out Niall, spread out on the couch, legs hanging off the edge.

It's late in the evening so it's dark out, and the place is empty save for a couple employees. The smell of gasoline is strong. Zayn breaths it in. Pats his back-pocket for his cigarettes and lighter. He's been good lately, going down on the amount of fags he goes through a day. His mum will be pleased.

'That's not good for you voice, you know'

Zayn rolls his eyes, turning to see Harry standing there with a lopsided smile.

'You don't say'

Harry nods, 'want a blackberry?'

Lips twitching, Zayn takes one from the plastic container he's holding up. It's nice; sweet and juicy. He watches as Harry pops one into his mouth, licking his lips afterwards. They stand there in silence for a while, Zayn with his cigarette, Harry with his blackberries, lips getting progressively darker the more of them he eats. Zayn has to force his eyes away.

'Sorry about earlier. I know I can be a bit annoying'

Zayn shrugs, 'don't have to apologise babe. I know you well enough to know you didn't mean to be'

'Isn't it weird?' he asks after a few minutes.

'What?'

'How we still feel like we have to get out and stretch our legs even when we can actually walk around in the bus?'

'Mm, I never thought about it, but it's true'

'So,' Zayn turns to face Harry, 'we got a break coming up. You doing anything?'

Harry shrugs, and it's odd, because he usually beams at this type of question before launching into a very detailed list of everything he's got planned, not being the kind to stay still for long.

'You going to see your family?' he asks instead.

Zayn nods, cigarette brought up to his lips, 'for a few days' and then he'll go home and spend some quality time by himself.

'When are you going?'

''s soon as we're finished here'

'Oh'

Zayn takes a look at him.

'What?'

'Nothing' he pops another berry in his mouth. Looks away.

'Harry. What?'

Picking at his lip, Harry answers, 'Um, I was thinking of staying here a couple more days'

'Okay?'

'I thought' he cuts in quickly, 'you might want to stay with me?'

'Ah'

'Just for a bit' he goes on, 'literally just a couple of days. But, I mean, if you've already told your mum you're going that's okay, like, I won't mind'

'You're rambling' Zayn tells him amused.

'Erm'

'Its cute'

Harry bites his lip, he's waiting for his answer. Zayn gives it to him.

'I can stay a couple of days longer'

'Oh! Really?'

Zayn shrugs, takes another drag of his cigarette. He can see Louis and Liam walking out of the little Express shop, each with two bags in hand. He hopes they've got some good stuff in there.

He's startled out of his thoughts by Harry, who's thrown his arms around him in his very best version of a bear-hug, the empty box of fruit goes flying to the floor, and Zayn drops the end of his cigarette in surprise. He squirms a little in the hug until he gets enough room to put his arms around Harry as well. The boy can get whingey if he's not hugged back.

'Alright babe?'

'Yeah' Harry answers, voice muffled against his shoulder, 'love you'

Zayn ignores the flutter in his stomach, the want to press closer.

'Love you too'

They separate once Paul’s voice reaches them, calling them back into the bus, and Zayn watches Harry go, surprised at the warmth in his cheeks. He ignores the look Paul gives him as he climbs up the steps.

　

The next day they agree to go out for lunch. They’re all a little bit tired of being inside the bus, and Liam and Louis in particular get restless when they’ve been cooped up for too long.

"Where d'you want to go then?" Paul asks, phone in hand, and GPS on, "there's quite a few places not too far from here"

"I fancy a really nice burger. Or maybe ribs?"

"That sounds so good right now" Louis nods, patting his stomach.

"I want Chinese" Harry pipes in.

"Umm" Liam hums his appreciation.

"I don't think we'll find both Chinese food and burgers at the same place H" Paul tells him, sighing.

Harry shrugs, turning towards Liam "shall we go the two of us?"

"I thought you all agreed to go somewhere together? Andy's not gonna go around dropping you off in different places"

Andy - their driver- shouts his agreement from the front of the bus, telling them to hurry up. He's hungry too.

They all exchange looks, before turning around to look at Zayn, who says "no" without even looking up from his phone.

"C'mon Malik, you have to decide for us"

"Now Zayn, choose wisely. Don't let me down" Louis says seriously.

Zayn shrugs "I don't mind really"

"Noooo" Niall cries out, dramatic.

Zayn shrugs again.

"Zayn you've gotta decide mate"

"Chiiineeeese"

"Yes! Pleeease" Harry plops down on his lap, knocking the phone off his hand.

"Harry! Get off!"

"Not until you agree to Chinese" he blinks down at Zayn, arms going around his shoulders.

"Oi, Harold, that's playing dirty"

Niall snorts. Louis starts towards them, gripping Harry by the under-arms, "no fair Styles!" he pulls quite hard at the younger boy, and in turn Harry grips him tighter, forcing him to hold on to his hips in order to keep his balance.

"Nooo" Harry whines into his shoulder, throwing a leg over Zayn, so that he's really clinging on now, but Louis doesn't stop yanking, a scowl on his face.

"Harry!"

"Lou! Stop it" Zayn secures his grip on Harry, feet tensing on the ground.

"But Zayn - !"

"No, Lou, seriously. Stop it. You're gonna hurt him"

"Fine" he huffs, before letting go, and Harry's weight falls back on Zayn.

Harry waits a few more seconds, and when Louis doesn't come back to tug at him again, he looks up from where he had his face shoved into Zayn's neck. He looks around the room, before the green eyes fixes on him again, "so.. Chinese?"

He smiles hopefully, and well, who's Zayn to say no?

"Yeah, okay"

Harry grins, Liam claps, "Chinese it is then!"

Louis groans, "steeeak"

"Idiot" Niall elbows him on the side.

"How's this my fault?!"

"We might have had a chance if you didn't go and try to play tug-a-war with Harry"

Louis scoffs, "yeah right. Let's be serious here, Zayn was always going to agree with Harry." he wrinkles his nose in distaste.

Tired of the discussion, Zayn taps Harry on the hip, "c'mon babe, up you go"

Harry goes, pulling Zayn with him, and sending a smug smile at Louis, who rolls his eyes, and walks out of their common area.

"Great. Now he'll be in a mood about this for the whole night" Niall complains, falling on the vacated space on the couch. "whatever" he says, a second later, before turning to back to Paul, "how long till we're there?"

They arrive fifteen minutes later, and they all walk in together. The place is not very big, and the lights are dimmed. The table-cloths are a dark shade of red, and there's a little cup with flowers on every one of them.

Thankfully, it's not terribly late. As it is, the waiter tells them they have 40 minutes until the kitchen stops serving food, before they close for the afternoon, so they drag a couple of tables together, and decide what to eat fairly quickly, with the help of Paul, who keeps reminding them of the time.

Louis at least, looks less angry, which is probably thanks to Niall, who's seating next to him.

"It's true though" Louis' voice rises enough to grab his attention, and he turns away from Harry to look towards the end of the table, where Louis is.

"What's true?" he asks, curious in spite of himself.

"That you always agree with Harry"

Liam groans, "ugh, Louis, not this again"

Zayn frowns, "what do you mean again?"

The three boys exchange looks, and Liam shrugs, "just Louis being silly"

"Excuuuse-me"

"Oh, for the - Louis can't you let this go?"

"No, because I'm right!"

Liam sighs, bored, "whatever"

Zayn raises an eyebrow at Harry, expecting him to look just as nonplussed as he feels, but instead Harry looks away, down at his hands where he's playing with one of his rings. He's confused. Conversation is quickly changing topics, but he can't quite let this go.

"I don't always agree with Harry" he blurts out, and the attention is suddenly back on him. "I don't" he sounds defensive, which is not really what he wants to sound like, but he hears the boy's disbelief in their silence

‘C’mon Zayn, its us. Your bandmates. Your brothers. You don’t have to lie to us’

Zayn frowns thoughtfully at them, before turning to look at Harry. He’s got his head bent down, as if he’s trying very hard to ignore the conversation, only the way he’s wringing his hands give him away.

‘Haz?’

‘Umm?’

‘I don’t do that, do I?’

‘Erm, not all of the time’

Louis snorts.

‘He doesn't!’ he looks around, face set into an expression of absolute misery.

‘Oh please Harry –

‘Stop it Lou’

He sounds upset. Zayn intervenes, ‘well I suppose that's because Harry is my favourite’ he smiles, trying to lighten the mood, and can't help but laugh, when his bandmates groan. Harry beams at him, before throwing his arms around him in a sideway hug. Zayn pats him awkwardly, hand sliding down his back.

'You're my favourite too' Harry murmurs before letting go, pink in the cheeks.

'Whatever. Not like we care anyway' Liam says, turning his nose up at them.

Zayn laughs, 'I love you too Li'

Conversation continues, a lot more cheerful now, so Zayn is surprised the next time he looks at Harry, to see the dark expression on his face.

 

'Harry c'mon'

'I wanna sleep with you' he whines. He's been in a strop all day. Doesn't seem to be able to make up his mind as to whether he's giving Zayn the silent treatment or if he wants to hold on to him and never let go. Zayn spent the whole day feeling confused and frustrated, and he'd very much like to sleep.

'No' he grunts. Pushes him off.

'Why?'

'There's no room babe'

'I don't mind'

Zayn rolls his eyes. In the dark Harry leans over him, one knee on the bed, eyes glinting.

'Harry' he sighs,'we've been over this' we can't both fit in here.

'Can if we snuggle'

He's in the clingy mood then. He frowns at Zayn's unimpressed look.

'Couch?' he pipes up after a few more seconds of silence.

Zayn takes a look at him, the furrowed brows and upset turn of his mouth and he agrees, because well, of course he does.

So they move to the couch, even though Zayn knows they won't be asleep for long, because one of the boys will come bother them awake.

They move in the dark, bumping into things and Zayn trips over Harry's limbs more than once, since he refuses to let go of him. Zayn says a mental thank-you for how big the couch is as they stumble onto in, Harry half on top of him. Zayn huffs, breath knocked out of him and tries to rearrange them. Harry is being difficult, refusing to be moved.

'Harry' he tries to be stern, but he never really succeeds when it comes to Harry.

Grumbling, Harry climbs back on top of him, shoving a knee between his legs, faced tucked into Zayn's neck.

'What the hell's the matter with you today?' frowning he lifts a hand up to Harry's nape, rests it there.

''m tired'

Zayn rolls his eyes, 'so am I, but you won't let me sleep'

Harry sighs, despondent, his breath is warm on Zayn's skin.

'Sorry'

''S fine babe. Let's just sleep now okay?'

Harry nods, but doesn't fall asleep. Zayn knows what he feels like when he's sleeping, knows he'd feel his weight more keenly if he was.

Instead they lay in silence, and Zayn finds it hard to fall asleep now, though he's tired, he knows he'll stay awake for as long as Harry is. One hand on the back of his neck, the other running up and down Harry's back, Zayn breaths in, eyes closed. Harry smells good, like shampoo and soap and sleep. Familiar.

He hums quietly, it's barely even a sound, just a little tickle in his throat, and Harry sighs, finally succumbing to sleep. Zayn keeps at it until he's out, doesn't stop even then.

He opens his eyes sometime later. It's still dark, there's hair touching his nose. It tickles. He wrinkles his nose, huffs, turning his head away when that doesn't help. Harry moves where he's still laying half on top of him, and Zayn's suddenly aware that Harry's hard. Harry moves again, and Zayn realises he is too.

'Harry' he says, voice low. Harry makes a small sound, pushes his hips against Zayn's thigh.

'Haz, god' his hand slides down Harry's back until they come to rest on his arse. He presses his fingers against the covered skin, pulling him in properly, and the boy lets out a little noise, eyes fluttering open.

'Zayn'

His name sounds good on Harry's lips, his voice is still rough from sleep.

'C'm'ere, c'm'ere' one hand on the back of his neck, Zayn pulls him in until their mouths are right against each others. Harry's breath is hot on his face, his eyes are open wide now, and there's a pleading expression on his face. His hips still.

'Zayn' he says again, and satisfied, Zayn pulls him in the rest of the way. It's good, slow and deep, and Zayn's hands clench around every bit of Harry he's holding on to. After a bit Harry pulls away, breaths short, and gives a hard, slow roll of his hips, crotch right up against Zayn's.

Zayn wants to keep kissing him, but Harry's already too worked up, panting, mouth pressed against Zayn's jaw, and Zayn slides his hand down until they're both gripping his bum, and he pushes up against him, stomach clenching at the noise coming from Harry, before he comes. Harry follows him, hips twitching against his, a groan leaving his mouth, and Zayn grips his hair, stealing a hard kiss from his mouth to silence him.

They breath hard for a few minutes, catching their breath. Harry doesn't move from where he is except to tuck his face against Zayn's neck. He seems to like it there.

'Must've been a really good dream' he teases, once he's able to say anything.

Harry makes a sound, ''m sorry, I'm sorry'

'Hey' he tries to make Harry look up at him, but the boy refuses to be moved, 'Harry, what are you apologising for?'

'I don't know' he whines pitifully, 'I just feel like I should'

'Harry, babe, look at me'

Though it's still dark, there's enough light around for him to see Harry, so he takes him in, the doleful eyes, flushed cheeks and bottom lip sucked into his mouth. He's quite beautiful really.

'Talk to me Harry. What's going on? You've been weird all day'

Harry tries to hide his face again, but Zayn stops him, hands framing his cheeks. He gives him a kiss, rubs his thumb on his cheekbone. All the while Harry stares at him, eyes comically wide.

'Harry' he says again, prodding.

Harry shakes his head. Purses his lips. And then finally, 'I think - I think I really love you Zayn'

Zayn frowns, 'I love you too Harry'

'No!' he sounds frustrated now, 'I mean, I really /really/ love you'

Oooh. Zayn swallows, peers up at him; Harry looks miserable.

'Babe why didn't you tell me this before?' there's something building inside him, he's not sure what it is, but has his suspicions.

'I...I didn't want to scare you away, I guess?' he shakes his head, 'that's why I was upset today, cause I thought, before, you might, you know, feel the same way, but I thought, even if you did, you probably didn't even realise it yet, and I shouldn't have told you yet. You're going to freak out now'

Zayn smiles, 'I think you're the one who's freaking out babe'

'I'm sorry. I just didn't want you to be put off, and what if you started avoiding me?' he sounds as if that was something he was actually worried about.

'Harry' Zayn 'tsks', 'I'd never avoid you'

'But'

'And I really hope you know that you could never scare me away or whatever' he brushes a bit of Harry's hair behind his ear, smiling. Silly boy.

'Yeah?' there's a slow smile spreading on his face now, and he licks his lips, 'even if I tell you I want to do this again?' he punctuates his words with another roll of his hips, and Zayn's hands immediately fly down to still him.

'Zayn?' he asks, uncertain, smile deflating, and that just won't do.

'Boys will be up soon' he reminds him, because he still remembers, if a bit too late, that they're on the couch, in plain view of anybody that walks by.

Harry groans, 'they won't Zayn, they'll take ages yet'

Which is probably true, but it's just as likely that one of them will wander in to get a snack or go for a late night phone call before going back to bed again. You can never know with those boys, and now that Zayn isn't trapped in a haze of sleep and lust anymore, he remembers that he actually doesn't like any sort of semi-public sex, and prefers his privacy, thank you very much. So as much as he'd like to let Harry keep kissing him, he knows that that's not all he has in mind, so he stops him again.

'C'mon Harry' he says, rubbing a soothing hand over his shoulder blades.

Harry huffs, clearly irritated, but stops. Resting his forearms on Zayns chest he plays with his rings, 'is this like, an excuse? Do you,like, not want to...?'

'No, Harry.No. Look at me' he says again. For someone who's so keen on eye contact, Harry's being very contrary now.

'I just don't want to start something we can't finish alright?'

Harry looks at him, then nods, seemingly convinced, before settling down on Zayn's chest.

'Fine' he says, clearly unhappy about it.

Zayn chuckles, 'greedy thing'

'I just love you a lot Zayn' he pouts, though there's mischief in his eyes.

'Yeah, me and the orgasms I can give you'

'Well yeah, obviously. Best combination ever right?'

Zayn grins and doesn't stop him when Harry leans in to place a kiss on his chin.

'n'I kiss you? I wanna kiss you'

'Nope' Zayn says, he's on to him, 'I'd really like to change my underwear though'

Harry makes a face at that, 'me too. But /then/ can I kiss you?' Zayn smiles, he's enjoying this a little bit, 'wel'll see. C'mon'

They use a few wipes to clean themselves up, before changing into new boxers, all the while trying to be as quiet as possible. They settle back on the couch, in their usual position, Harry half draped on top of him. They're more sleepy now, so it only takes a couple of slow kisses before they're out again.

 

He wakes up to Liam, jumping on top of them, and Louis screaming his head off on the side whilst Niall laughs, watching everything with amusement sparkling in his eyes.

 

Zayn groans and Harry rolls away to watch the spectacle, a lazy smile on his face.

 

Zayn squints up at Liam, annoyed, 'go away Liam' he grumbles. He misses Harry's warmth, but Harry, once he's up, he's /up/, so he'll just have to make do, he thinks, curling up on his side. He's very good at tuning out noise. One of the perks of the job.

 

He gives up after a few more minutes of them yelling, so he gets up, glaring at all of them and goes to get himself into some decent clothes. They spread themselves around, so by the time he comes back, he has to walk carefully to avoid stepping on anyone's limbs. Harry who's seating on the sofa with his feet up in Louis' lap turns forward, patting the free space next to him.

 

With a lop-sided smile on his face, he sits down, letting out a startled 'whoa' when his vision of the telly is blocked by Harry who busies himself climbing on Zayn's lap, legs stretched out sideways on the sofa..

 

He blinks. Looks at him, 'you okay babe?'

Harry nods, biting his lip.

'What is it?'

He shrugs, 'is this okay?' he asks instead.

'This is great' he tells him honestly, arms going around Harry's waist, before focusing back on the tv. It only takes a few minutes for him to realise that Harry isn't, not at all, he's staring quite intensely at Zayn as a matter of fact, hands playing around on his lap, as he tries to pretend he isn't staring.

'Babe'

'You're still gonna stay behind with me right?' Harry looks up at him, eyes so very green and hair messy, teeth sunk into his bottom lip, and Zayn can only kiss him, catching Harry's top lip in between his own because it deserves some attention too.

 

His band-mates are groaning in complaint around Zayn, 'Awww men, we're never gonna win an argument against Harry again'

'We're gonna be eating Chinese food forever!'

 

Zayn smiles at his friend's dramatic, finally pulling away, 'course I am H' he says, taking another look at Harry.

 

He's positively beaming now, and there's a shine to his eyes that wasn't there a few minutes ago, and Zayn shakes his head at him, steals another quick kiss.

 

Silly boy.


End file.
